Topic: Piper Jaffray

While many Apple observers expect the company to reveal solid year-over-year growth for its relatively quiet June quarter, much of the focus will be on new CFO Luca Maestri's guidance for the fall with updated iPhones and iPads on the horizon, the expected closing of the Beats acquisition, and the possibility of a so-called "iWatch."

Apple's new enterprise partnership with IBM will likely strengthen the position of the iPhone and iPad in the corporate world, but it probably won't move the needle much in terms of overall device sales, investment firm Piper Jaffray believes.

Even as Google counts some 1 billon monthly active users for Android worldwide, more than six out of every ten page views from a mobile device in the U.S. still come from an iPhone, an iPad, or an iPod touch, according to new browsing data released on Monday.

Investment firm Piper Jaffray published the results of a new fashion-focused survey on Tuesday, in which respondents were asked about a rumored Apple "iWatch," with interest in such a device found to vary wildly based on price.

Apple's current iPhone lineup is showing strong staying power, with more than a third of prospective U.S. smartphone customers saying they plan to buy either an iPhone 5s or an iPhone 5c in the next three months, despite the fact that new models are expected to launch around September.

With no major new products launched in the just-concluded March quarter, analysts on Wall Street don't expect big things from Apple when the company reports its earnings on Wednesday, generally projecting for revenue to be about flat with the same period from a year ago.

Analyst Gene Munster, who has long held out hope for a more fully functional Apple TV and even a full television set from the company, believes that Wednesday's launch of the Amazon fireTV should serve as further motivation for Apple to make major moves in the television space.

The highlight of Apple's next quarterly earnings call later this month could be moderate increases to the company's share buyback program and dividend payouts to shareholders, many investors reportedly expect.

A new survey of prospective U.S. smartphone buyers has found that Apple's flagship iPhone 5s remains the most popular option for those making a purchase in the next few months, but the iPhone 5c is not expected to make waves.

This afternoon Apple will report earnings from the company's first fiscal quarter of 2014, and investors expect that the company will reveal record sales of its blockbuster iPhone and iPad product lines, with collective sales of both devices expected to top 80 million.

When Apple reports its holiday 2013 earnings in a few weeks, investors are likely to be focused on the future, analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray believes, as the upcoming launch of the iPhone on China Mobile takes center stage.

Shares of Apple stock surged more than 3 percent on Monday, after news broke that the company has reached a long-awaited deal to begin selling the iPhone in January through China Mobile, the world's largest wireless provider.

Apple has improved its voice-driven personal assistant, Siri, with the iOS 7 update for iPhone and iPad, though Siri's chief competition, Google Now, has improved enough to be on par, new tests have concluded.

Apple's realistic -- and historically conservative -- guidance provided to investors likely does not include projected revenue from the company's anticipated impending launch of the iPhone on China Mobile, suggesting to one analyst that shares of AAPL have great upside potential.

This afternoon after markets close, Apple is set to announce its earnings for the recently concluded September quarter. But analysts are mostly interested in any comments the company may have about improving iPhone 5s production, as well as sales of the iPhone 5c.